


Brighter Lights Back Home

by oretsev



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Post-Promised Day, implied edwin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 19:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10815345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oretsev/pseuds/oretsev
Summary: Ed and Al's first night back in Resembool after the Promised Day. Edward and Winry have some things to talk about.





	Brighter Lights Back Home

Winry laid the old knit quilt at the foot of Alphonse’s bed. “Anything else you need?”

Al shook his head, exhaustion written across his face, tugging heavy eyelids downward even as he sat on the edge of the bed. “Thanks, Winry. I’m sorry I can’t stay up later with you guys. I wanted to be more fun on our first day back.”

“Don’t be sorry. We can talk more tomorrow.” Winry looked over to where Edward was digging through a suitcase.

 Ed glanced up at her. “Yep. I’m just gonna help him get ready for bed and then I’ll be up for a little bit still. Now that I’m not sleeping for two,” he added, grinning at his brother. Alphonse chuckled.

Winry leaned down to wrap her arms around Alphonse, still marveling at the newfound warmth. “Sweet dreams.” Releasing him reluctantly, she crossed to the doorway. “I’ll be in my room when you’re done,” she said to Edward.

He nodded. “Sure. I won’t be too long.”

Closing the door behind her, Winry let out a breath that had been sitting heavy in her chest for far too long. They were home.

 

* * *

 

She considered putting on her pajamas; the house felt still in a way that made her want to crawl into bed, though the sun had barely set. Instead, she sat at her desk, staring at schematics pinned to her wall and rolling a pencil between her fingers.

A soft knock sounded on her door, and she glanced up to see it open just enough to let Edward’s soft voice carry in. “You still up?”

“Of course.” Winry pushed back her chair, turning to face Ed as he sat down on her bed. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to get to sleep tonight.”

Ed huffed a soft laugh. “I know. We’ve been travelling all day, so I should be exhausted, and yet… Ahhhhh.” He leaned back against the wall, legs crossed at the ankles as they stretched out in front of him. “It does feel good to sit down and not be bumping over train tracks though.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Winry dropped the pencil she’d been holding back onto a stack of notes and crossed to her bed. She toed off her shoes and sat down. “Is Al asleep already?”

Edward nodded. “He could barely keep his eyes open long enough to change his clothes. I think he was out before I even left the room.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m surprised he made it as long as he did, to be honest. He slept a little on the train but with such a long day I expected him to have to turn in a lot earlier. He just doesn’t have the stamina right now.”

She sighed, pulling her pillow onto her lap. It was a moment before she spoke again. “He’s so thin.”

Ed smiled, staring out the window into the purpling dusk. “He’s actually gained a lot of weight since that first day, but he’s still not where the doctors said they’d like to see him at. He’s got a list of things he wants to eat now that he’s got his body back, you know.” Ed turned his head to grin at Winry. “It’s a good thing you had that apple pie ready. It was at the top of his list.”

“Oh, I know. He told me earlier. About twelve times.”

“You got the condensed version of it. He wouldn’t shut up about it in the hospital. They had pie one day down in the cafeteria, so I brought him some. He wouldn’t have any of it. He said he was waiting for yours.”

Winry barked out a laugh. “You’ll have to get me the rest of his list. I’ll get up early and go into town to do some shopping tomorrow morning so we can make everything he wants and surprise him.”

“Maybe not all at once. It’s a long list.” Ed laughed. “But yeah, he’d love it if we surprised him.”

“We?” Winry lifted an eyebrow. “You get your arm back and suddenly you can cook?”

“Well, no…" Ed pulled at a loose thread on his cuff. "But I could probably still help.”

“How would you help, exactly?” Winry gave his hand a light smack. “Stop picking at that, you’ll ruin your shirt.”

“I could... stir things. Put them in the oven. Take them out of the oven.”

Winry narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see.”

“That’s probably fair.”

They sat in silence a moment before Winry spoke again. “Hey, Ed?”

Ed groaned and began taking off his sweatshirt. “I suppose.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to ask!”

“So you don’t want to see my arm?” Ed asked, pausing. Winry glared at him. “Honestly, I’m surprised you held out this long.”

Winry slid her legs to side, shifting so that she was in a better position to examine his shoulder. “I told you earlier that I wanted to look at it later.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ed’s voice was muffled as he pulled his shirt over his head. Although she’d wondered many times since the brothers returned how exactly Edward’s shoulder would look reconstructed, she was still taken aback as he turned to her, his black tee shirt crumpled in his fist.

“It looks like it’s been healing for months already,” she said softly. Her brow was furrowed as she glanced up at him. Her fingers trailed over the new scars, pink and raised, that ran from his collarbone over his shoulder, crossing older, lighter scars from his automail surgery. Her hands stalled near his collarbone, where several small, mostly-healed incisions lay outlined by the tell-tale red pinpricks of recently removed stitches.

“There were some… leftovers. From the automail. When I got my arm back.” Winry lifted her eyes to meet his, but his face was turned the other way. “The doctors at Central removed what they could see.”

“What they could see,” Winry repeated, her hands still motionless.

“They said… They said there was a possibility there might still be remnants left inside the joint. That they didn’t want to risk damaging the joint with exploratory surgery, since they didn’t know what they would find.” Ed glanced at her. “Do you think there’s anything left behind?”

Winry shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never had anyone get a limb back after having automail. This is a first for me.” Ed breathed out a small laugh. She stood, stepping so that she could place one hand on the Ed’s shoulder blade and the other on the front of his shoulder blade. “Let me see if I can feel anything. Raise your arm.”

Ed obliged. “I can’t get it all the way up yet. The scars are a little tight.”

“Just as far as you can. And back down.” Winry moved her front hand a few inches out towards his shoulder joint. “Now try crossing it in front of you. Does anything feel out of place, like its clicking or catching?”

“I don’t think so.”

Winry dropped her hand back down by her side. “I don’t feel anything, but keep an eye on it. If there is anything left inside, it might shift as it continues to heal. Did they give you anything for the scars?”

Edward pulled his shirt back over his head, pushing his arms through the sleeves. “Yeah, some ointment stuff. It’s in my bag in the other room. And a bunch of exercises to do. They said I should have my full range of motion back soon, as long as I don’t slack off.”

“That’s good to hear.” Winry sat back on the bed, eyeing Edward cautiously. “Any way you’d let me take a look at your leg?”

Ed leaned back, propping his arms behind his head. “You’re not just going to look at it though. You’ll end up wanting to get going on repairs as soon as you see everything.”

“Everything? How bad is it?”

“Ah, jeez, it’s not!” Seeing Winry’s glowering expression, he crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s not! It’s just… been a while. And a lot of stuff’s happened. Besides, even if everything was fine you know you wouldn’t be able to resist tinkering with it. It can wait until tomorrow.”

“What if I promised just to look?”

He shook his head. “Then you’d be a liar. I know there’s a wrench set in that top desk drawer there,” he said, tilting his chin towards the opposite side of the room. “You wouldn’t even have to… Hold on. I think I hear Al.”

 

* * *

 

Winry turned at the sound of her bedroom door opening again.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll wait,” Edward began backing out of the room.

“Don’t worry, I’m decent,” she said lightly, closing the wardrobe doors. “Just put on my pajamas, is all.” She gestured to her loose tee shirt and shorts, then pulled the elastic out of her hair and dropped it on the desk.

“I brought us pie,” Edward said, lifting the plate in his hand slightly as he sat on the bed.

“I can’t believe there was any left after you two went after it this evening.” Winry sat next to him, cross-legged. She took the fork Edward held out to her and speared a bite on its tines.

“This may have been the last piece,” he admitted.

“Was Al okay?” Winry asked around a mouthful of pie, smirking.

“Yeah, yeah, okay, I’m a little overprotective.” Ed’s cheeks flushed, but he smiled.

“I think that’s probably understandable. Given the circumstances.”

Ed tapped his fork against the edge of the plate. “He’s too nice to ever call me out on it, but I think he’s getting tired of me checking on him constantly.”

“He just doesn’t want you to worry about him. He hates making people worry.” Winry took another bite, chewing slowly. After a minute, she said, “He really does seem to be doing well, all things considered. You could probably relax a little. He’s not going anywhere.”

Edward nodded, lips tight. “I’m glad we’re back. Central was just… a lot to handle, at the moment, you know? We were in the middle of it all and there were so many loose ends to tie up. There still are, really. It’s nice to have some space to breath, finally. No one barging in to ask questions or have us sign papers. Al needs to be able to relax and get his strength back.”

“You too, you know. You’ve both been running yourselves ragged, don’t think I haven’t noticed.” Winry nudged his leg with her knee. “You can have the last bite,” she said, inclining her head towards the nearly-empty plate.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Edward popped the last bit of crust into his mouth, grinning smugly and dropping his fork on the now-empty plate.

Winry rolled her eyes and began to unfold her legs from beneath her. “I’m going to go put this in the sink.”

 

* * *

 

“Ow!” Winry awoke to a sharp pain at her scalp and the mattress shifting beneath her. She attempted to sit up, only to be forced to stop short.

“Sorry, sorry,” Edward whispered, pulling his hand back from where he had shifted his weight onto her hair. “Just trying to get up. You have a lot of hair,” he muttered. He cautiously picked his way to the end of the bed where he maneuvered himself over her legs to climb out of the bed.

“You’re one to talk,” Winry mumbled. “What time is it?” The cold, gray light filtering through the curtains signaled an early morning hour.

“No idea. Early.” He bent to pick up his boots from where he’d kicked them off the night before as they lay talking. “I think it was around midnight when I fell asleep.”

Winry propped herself up on her elbows, squinting against her drowsiness. “I didn’t mean to keep you up so late. You could have told me you were getting tired.”

“Nah, I wanted to hear about everything. Sorry I fell asleep on you.”

Winry sagged back against her pillow, closing her eyes. “Let Den out if you’re getting up.”

 

* * *

 

Winry had just fallen asleep again when she was awoken for the second time that morning by the creaking of floorboards at her doorway. Moments later, she felt the blankets being raised off of her. She pulled back at them without opening her eyes.

“Scoot over, I don’t want to crawl over you again.” Winry blearily opened her eyes to see Ed standing over her.

“What’s wrong with your bed?” she muttered.

“I don’t want to wake up Al. And the couch is too cold. Move over.”

Too tired to argue, she shifted towards the wall to make room for him. “Only because Alphonse needs his rest.”

**Author's Note:**

> The first I've written in a loooonnnggg time. Posted for Edwin Day 2017.


End file.
